Cure For Depression: Botox For Frown Lines Could Help, Report Says; Stress, Anxiety On The Rise For Americans

Depression, stress, and anxiety have been on the rise for more Americans than ever and many are facing trouble to get the help they need, a new study suggested Monday. An evaluation of federal health data estimated 8.3 million American adults — about 3.4 percent of the U.S. population — suffering from psychological distress.

The study concluded that there has been a rise in the number of cases of depression from the earlier 3 percent. Researchers believe that the rise in number could be a lasting after-effect of the Great Recession that began in late 2007.

“Mental illness is on the rise. Suicide is on the rise. And access to care for the mentally ill is getting worse,” Lead Researcher Judith Weissman reportedly said.

Read: Depression Symptoms - Brain Scans May Be The Key To Diagnosing Disorder

Weissman, who is a research manager in the department of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, also said that the continued general hopelessness and nervousness resulted in diagnosable conditions such as depression and anxiety. The latest study was conducted by comparing self-reported psychological distress symptoms across nine years.

“The recession seemed to have pushed the mentally ill to a point where they never recovered,” she said. “This is a very disturbing finding because of the implications of what mental illness can do to a person in terms of their ability to function and their life span.”

While many people are unaware of the help they need to cure depression, a new test reported by CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez suggested that getting a botox to get rid of rid of frown lines could help treat depression.

Dr. Eric Finzi of the Chevy Chase Cosmetic Center, where such a treatment is conducted, said facial expressions are part of the circuit of the brain related to mood and hence can be related to depression.

“Fear, anger and sadness all go through this muscle, so Botox basically inhibits the muscle and calms it down, so it becomes more difficult to feel those negative emotions,” Finzi said, according to CBS, adding that previous studies show between 50 and 60 percent of patients will benefit from the treatment.

U.S. Army veteran Vivian Cooke who underwent a botox to get rid of frown lines told CBS that she noticed a change in her depression almost immediately.

"I found overall my mood was better on a day to day basis,” she said. “I had less problems with depression.”

Last week, a study found that group mindfulness therapy is just as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy that can help treat certain mental illnesses like anxiety, depression and stress-related disorders.

“Our new research shows that mindfulness group therapy has the equivalent effect as individual CBT for a wide range of psychiatric symptoms that are common among this patient group,” Professor Jan Sundquist, who led the research group in the study, said in a statement. “We have shown in a previous study that mindfulness group therapy is just as effective as individual CBT for the treatment of typical depression and anxiety symptoms; something we also observed in the new study.”